Leadership is not about you or your title, your money your possessions, your power, or how much pleasure you can get from life.
Leaders never have all the answers, but they seek them constantly and often find them in the places that others have overlooked.
The articles below will challenge you and inspire you to grow your thinking and your behavior first, and then help you bring your best to the people and the organizations you serve.
Have you ever caught a whiff of a smoky haze coming from down the hall? …The kind that indicates something is not quite right?
Occasionally a fire alarm even goes off, but it is quickly silenced.
…But if you follow your nose the smoke gets thicker around another titled leader’s door.
Yes – I’m asking about a titled leader that may be a level or two below you, may be your direct report, your peer or even your boss.
A variety of conversations over the past few months have me focused on expectations.
As a result I’ve historically struggled to be on the receiving end of poor service, and really struggled to work with titled leaders that don’t care about anything but meeting minimum standards.
So imagine living life in a place where:
As a leader do you delegate or do you encourage others to take ownership?
Leaders who major in delegation and struggle to empower others to take ownership send signals that communicate, “It’s all about me.”
Leaders who major in ownership send signals that communicate, “It’s about ALL of us!”
I was recently on a call with a friend that is dealing with at situation that is impacting her family and needs to change. She’s done everything she can think of to communicate their needs, to ask for consideration, and to influence that change but nothing seems to be happening.
As we visited I thought of a story I heard years ago about two children that were teased every day at school by a bully. In spite of their pain, their families encouraged them to be courageous, to speak truth and to be kind and loving in in their responses.
After an especially challenging day at school the two children were hurting, frustrated and discouraged.
So the little girl’s father took them on a trip to a construction site. They sat at a distance and watched as a man hammered on a large boulder. Repeatedly he hit the massive stone with no apparent results.
…And then in one sudden blow the boulder crumbled into hundreds of pieces!
The children were amazed, and wondered why that one blow broke the rock and the others didn’t.
The father explained that with each blow the rock was breaking inside – even though the exterior showed no evidence of what was happening inside.
Today we honor the life of a man who consistently modeled that change can be obtained with persistence, thought, discipline and love.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words AFTER his home was bombed…
We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. Love them and let them know that you love them.
As we honor his life I can’t help but to think about…
Below are links to tools to help you be that change and prepare for the boulders you will face:
Image credits: iStock, Historical Stock Photos
I recently visited with a CEO that read one of the articles in this blog for the first time and realized how disconnected he’d been from a big project in his organization. …That realization caused him to immediately engage with his team.
Then I visited with a friend that is a stay-at-home grandmother. She said she wasn’t sure if leadership articles would be of value to her now that she is no longer working outside of the home. (Even though she is a leader in her home and does a lot of volunteer work!) …Then she went on to share her appreciation for the way the learning’s in these posts often challenge her thinking and apply to her life.
The CEO got a high five, my friend received a virtual hug, and my cells danced as I thought of how their actions and comments emphasize three important truths:
